The sub-collector Rourkela along with team of senior level officials visited the site where dead fishes were seen floating in river Brahmani. Following this incident the villagers, staying on the bank had staged a demonstration in front of the sub collector’s office on Wednesday.

on Thursday sub-collector Panposh Himansu Behera, along with BDO Lathikata and tehasildar of Rourkela visited the spot to take stock of situation at Kansar village near Jharabati bank on river Brahmani. The sub-collector said, “We are in discussion with the villagers on the issue at the moment.”

The official confirmed that he also found some dead fishes floating in the water. “Not very large in numbers like on Wednesday but there are some,” said Behera. He had forbidden the villagers to not to sell or consume the fishes.

He also informed that he had written to the state pollution control board office here informing about the incident. “They had come and took some samples of the water,” said Behera. on Wednesday dead fishes, of different varieties, were found floating at this spot and this panicked the villagers. These villagers depend on fishing up to a large extent both for livelihood and also food.

Angry villagers staged a demonstration in front of the sub-collector’s office on Wednesday. Later on they dispersed when Behera assured them of timely action. Speaking to media one of the villagers had said, “We will be doomed if there will be no fishes.”

The villagers then had directly blamed Rourkela Steel Plant for their woes. “As the plant water is directly coming in the river for which we are suffering,” said one of them. However, sources in RSP informed that the steel major would definitely check at its own end for lapses , if any.

Meanwhile, the State Pollution Control Board regional officer Hemendra Narayana Nayak visited the place and examined the possible reasons. “It was due to depletion of dissolved oxygen in water for which the fishes died,” said Nayak. We have collected water samples from six places and will conduct tests. It is not the effluent water from RSP but also the municipal corporation water which goes to Brahmani, he added.